Coming Clean
by white pedal
Summary: During Serenity's operation, Joey and his mother get into a fight, then Tristan finds out a secret Joey has been keeping since Duelist Kingdom. Based on episode 55


**Based off of episode 55.**

 **Enjoy.**

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Joey saw his sister off by four doctors by her side. Her surgery was complete but doctors were rushing to the next room.

"Hang in there, sis!" Joey says to Serenity as she was being wheeled away. He stops as the doctors take her away.

As she was being wheeled in her bed, she smiles and gives a peace side to her brother, and soon she vanished in another room.

He was relieved, Serenity finally got her operation, she was going to be okay. When he looked over he saw his mother, Lynn Wheeler, looking out the window. Joey was surprised to see his mother all these years, when Joey was little she wore a pink shirt with puffy loose sleeves and a pair of blue pants, she had dark brown hair that was styled like Joeys. She usually had a frown on her face, but being married to an alcoholic would do that to anybody. Now, seven years later, she was wearing a yellow skirt with a yellow sweater to match and a pink shirt underneath, her brown hair was starting to gray a bit and Joey could see she curled it also. Her eyes are the same color as Serenity's but were sharper.

It was the first time in years that he saw her and she looked so different. Almost peaceful to be exact, she seemed so much happier now.

It made him hopeful, when she smiled at him and said "It's nice to see you to, thanks son" he can see himself patching things up with his mother. Despite that years ago she wasn't nice to him and when she divorced his father she abandoned her ten-year old son with a man who was incapable of raising a child. But even though he was upset, he was glad that she took Serenity since she needed more attention for her condition.

Joey decided to gather up his courage to go talk to his mother, even though they just saw each other again he thought it was time to catch up with her. Ask her how everything was for her, how her new home was,and how everything was at Serenity's school. He has high hopes that because of his mother calling him son proudly, maybe they can be a real family for once.

"Hey Ma," Joey said with a smile,"how's it going?"

Lynn didn't turn from the window. "...Why did you come here?" Her tone suddenly cold and harsh.

Joey froze from his mother's sudden cold voice, "Huh? what do you mean?"

Lynn turned her direction to Joey, she had an ice-cold stare that didn't held the warmth he saw when he came in. Her olive eyes didn't hold the gentleness and warmth that Serenity's did nor did they held the gentle welcoming look she gave him when he arrived. They were hard as steel and they were filled with venom,she looked at him with complete disgust and resentment.

"You shouldn't have come here in the first place, why did you get yourself involved in our business Joseph!?"

Her tone was sharp this time, Joey couldn't believe what his mother was saying,"Ma what are you talking about? And I thought you were glad to see me?"

"I'm saying you should have never came for Serenity's operation and you shouldn't have gotten yourself involved with us in the first place! and I wasn't glad, I would have yelled at you but I didn't want to cause a scene and upset your brat sister!"

Joey was taken back by the woman's comment, "Ma, Serenity is my little sister! and when I found out her disease was getting worse I had to do something! and Serenity's not a brat, she was scared because of the surgery! anyone would freak out because of that!"

Mrs Wheeler looked at Joey, "You had no idea how furious I was when Serenity made that tape behind my back! to think she willingly told you about this and you just had to stick your nose where it doesn't belong! I would have given her the punishment of a lifetime if she wasn't so sick and the fact she was about to go blind along with the disease that was about to spread throughout her body."

Joey was appalled, "Ma! Me and Serenity haven't seen each other for seven years! when she told me the time came and her sight was fading I had to take action! and I wanted to see her again and save her! Don't you know what would have happened if she didn't get it?! you were with her for seven years at the hospital and saw what she went through, and don't you know what would have happened to her if she didn't get this surgery!? She would not only be blind but soon I wouldn't have a sister anymore and you wouldn't have a daughter anymore either, don't you even care about your daughter's well-being!? because now you're showing me you don't care."

"Be quiet boy!" Lynn snapped.

Joey went wide-eyed. When his mother said that to him, cold and uncaring, she reminded him of his father, Joey snarled and clenched his fists.

"You haven't changed, you're never gonna change...you are still the same bitter woman I remember you as when I was a kid. What the hell was I thinking coming over here to talk to you and thinking you finally want to be my mother?"

Lynn scoffed. "Same as you, you are still that petty little boy who got into fights and brawls."

"I had no choice ma! It was either that or get killed by those punks!"

Lynn crossed her arms, "Not according to your criminal record, you've been in a gang throughout middle school and almost got arrested. I don't want that kind of influence around my daughter and I didn't want you to be the one to pay for her surgery!"

Joey was at his breaking point. "So you would rather have Serenity go blind than to get the surgery?"

"Better than seeing you again. And you were late today for her surgery because of some card, she refused to come out of the room, have you have any idea how embarrassing it was for me when the doctors were looking me banging on her door!? it would be better if she went blind at that point and that you never had shown your face!"

Joey couldn't believe what he was hearing. It was true that he was upset about losing his red eyes black dragon, it was the card that gave him the confidence to fight for Serenity and when he lost it, he felt like less of a man and felt like he let Serenity down in the process. But thanks to Tristan knocking some sense into him (literally) he realized that he will only fail Serenity if he didn't show up at the hospital.

"You know what Ma, it's true I was upset about losing Red eyes. But I didn't show up at first because that card made me into who I am today, and when I lost that card I felt that I failed Serenity since I lost something that reminded me of her throughout duelist kingdom. But then I realized that she needed me in person and I plan on being there for her."

Lynn gave him a disapproving look. "I swear you are as pathetic as your father Joseph, he always said that he needed his alcohol. You are going down the same path he went."

Joey snapped, "That's it Ma! I had enough of this. You can say what you want, but don't you DARE compare me to that drunkard! he didn't care about Serenity but I do, and if I was like him I wouldn't have paid for her surgery and let her suffer! And he blamed Serenity or everything and wished nothing but the worst for her because of her being born with bad eyesight, something that wasn't her fault, and he was gambling our money away and made her doctors appointments even more expensive and he made things worse for all of us!"

"And I took Serenity away to protect her from your father and prevented us from going further into poverty! If I hadn't gotten her out of there she would have been doomed!" Lynn exclaimed.

Joey looked down on her, "And you left me behind where he did nothing but put us in debt, throw beer bottles at me as a 'Welcome Home' gesture. You may have gotten Serenity away from dad and to a safer place, but you left me behind where dad could care less if I lived or died and I had to survive on the streets and fend for myself! I was left with nothing after you took off and not only did I have to live with the fact that my dad is a pathetic abusive drunk, I had to live with the fact that my mother failed to protect me and abandoned me and that you took my sister away from me!"

A loud crack sound filled the hallways of the hospital. Nurses that were passing by went wide-eyed and gasped when they saw Mrs. Wheeler strike Joey, his cheek became red but he stood his ground and glared at his mother, who had a horrified expression on her face as her son gave her a death stare.

"If you think hitting me is going to make me afraid of you, you are making a big mistake. I'm not little anymore Ma, you can't intimidate me, dad did that to me all the time so what you did was like a breeze...you just proved that you are worse than him."

"That's it!" boomed a male voice from behind.

and Joey looked behind them and saw an angry middle-aged doctor walking into their direction.

"Oh thank goodness you're here!" Lynn exclaimed, she pointed at Joey, "I want you to throw this hooligan out of here at once doctor Manson!"

"I'm not throwing him out, It's you who's banned from this hospital!" He said in anger.

The older woman was in disbelief. "What!? what is the meaning of this!?"

Doctor Manson glared at the woman, "You have caused nothing but problems in this hospital the moment you arrived here when you harassed the nurses, not showing up for visitations for your daughter, and now for assaulting your son in the hospital. I will not tolerate this anymore, I want you to remove yourself from the hospital before I have my staff escort you out by force and get the police involved."

Mrs. Wheeler was speechless for a moment and started to become more hysterical,"But this Neanderthal was the one who started the fight!"

Doctor Manson pushed his glasses up, "I believe that _n_ _eanderthal_ is your son, and the one who paid for your daughter's surgery to save her eyesight, and it wasn't him who started the confrontation, it was you and I have nurses who are eye witnesses to support that claim. You should be showing him gratitude and respect for what he did for your daughter and what he has prevented for her in the future, not once in my fifty years in medicine did I hear a parent say such cruel things to their child and showing such disrespect to them as well. And to assault this young man in my hospital, I will not stand for it. Now leave."

Mrs. Wheeler was furious and grabbed her purse angrily from a near by chair, "Fine, I'll leave! But I will see it that you all regret this. You will rue the day you defended this delinquent!" she turned to Joey and glared at him, "and that goes for you to, Joseph, you'll regret barging back into Serenity's life like this! I will see that you never see her again and that you remain out of our lives, and I'll make sure that it stays that way permanently! Court ordered or not!"she started stomping out of the hospital.

Joey glared at the woman, he started kicking himself for having high hopes that he and his mother could have a relationship. She was still the same bitter woman he knew as a child who gave him the cold shoulder and never acknowledged him. He didn't know why she hated him but he didn't care anymore, he refuses to have a relationship with her because at this point, he had no mother.

And it will be a cold day in Hell if she took Serenity away from him again. If he had to fight his mother in court for visitations to see Serenity, than so be it.

He turns around to see the doctor, "What's up Doc?" Joey says with a small smile.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Wheeler, my name is doctor Johnathan Manson. I am the one who performed your sister's operation."

Joey blinked, has it already been hours since the surgery? he can guess that arguing with a spiteful neglectful mother really made time fly.

Joey hesitated, "How is she?" he was praying that nothing went wrong in the operating room.

Doctor Manson smiled,"The operation was a complete success, she's already in the recovery room. She will have to wear bandages until tonight, and while she is recovering she will be given medication to help the healing process and improve her sight, while remaining under observation to see if her condition has improved. She will be seeing crystal clear for a very long time."

"YES!" Joey pumped his fist in the air. He had never been this happy for a long time, he did, he kept his promise and now his sister's eyesight is saved she will be able to see till the end of her days. He never felt so much like a hero in his entire life.

He grabbed doctor Manson into a big bear hug, "Thank you! thank you! thank you!" he let's go of the doctor as he gasps for air.

Doctor Manson readjusted his glasses and smiled. Soon Tristan shows up with two cups of coffee from the cafeteria, "Hey Joey!" Tristan calls out.

Joey looks at Tristan with a smile, "Hey, man."

"So how's your sister?" Tristan asked as he gave Joey a cup.

Joey smiled, "The doctor said it was a success...I did it, I really did it."

Tristan grinned, "Really!? That's great! Congrats, dude! I knew you'd come through!" then Tristan looked around and suddenly became confused, "wait...where's your mom?"

Joey froze, then he looked down with a frown, "Joey what's wrong?" Tristan asked.

Joey looked up and Tristan got a clear few of the slap mark on Joey's face. Tristan went wide eyed, "...Joey...what happened?"

Joey looked down, "...Let's just say ma and I had a disagreement."

Tristan continued looking at Joey's mark with a sad expression, "...Dude.."

Doctor Manson fixed his glasses, "After Mr. Wheeler's mother assaulted him, I had her escorted from the hospital premises. She will not be allowed to come back here, including for her daughter's recovery as it's been paid by Mr. Wheeler here."

Tristan would frown, "..Joey..."

Joey gave him a smile, "Don't worry about it, Tristan. Ma and I never had that much of a relationship anyways, at least with pops he passes out before doing anything worse."

Doctor Manson continued, "But given that the operation was successful, Serenity should make a full recovery. She's a lucky young lady that the tumor didn't get the chance to grow more than a small dot."

Tristan was confused and alarmed at what he heard, "Tumor? What tumor?"

Joey froze when Doctor mentioned it, the doctor blinked, "Oh, well Miss Wheeler had a tumor in her left eye that was about to grow, but we managed to destroy it. luckily the tumor was practically a small dot and it didn't have the chance to grow to damage her sight and spread to her brain and body. Thank god for laser surgery or Miss Wheeler would have been in big trouble. She's able to get out of this with good sight and avoided death's door."

Tristan was shocked, "A tumor in her eye!? Death!?"

Joey felt his stomach drop, the cat was out of the bag.

Tristan glared at Joey, "Joey, what is he talking about!? You never said anything about Serenity having a tumor in her eyes!"

Joey was silent for a moment as he had his head down, until he finally spoke, "...Doc...can you leave us alone for a minute please."

Doctor Manson nodded, "Of course. Good day boys." and he left.

Tristan began to glare at Joey, "Joey...what did the doctor mean when he said Serenity had a tumor."

Joey looked nervous, but then he closed his eyes, "...Remember how I said that Serenity's disease was hard to repair?"

"Yes?"

"..But I never told you guys what disease she had?"

Tristan blinked, "Didn't she have glaucoma or degeneration?"

Joey shook his head, "...No...cancer."

That made Tristan almost lose his balance and stop his heart, "CANCER!? Joey you better explain yourself now! What do you mean Serenity had cancer!? You said her eyesight was failing and she was going blind!"

"She was! And her disease was doing that!...the disease she had was retinoblastoma...it's a rare form of cancer that affects the eyes."

Tristan remained shocked, "...Cancer...in the eyes?"

Joey looked down, "...I found out during duelist kingdom...when the doctor called me to let me know they discovered what her disease was...I always thought it was glaucoma since the doctors were still studying what was causing her bad eyesight since she was born...but then...on the night Kaiba and I had our duel, the doctor called me and told me they found out what was causing Serenity's eye problem...they didn't detect it sooner because it's not hereditary in my family and Serenity had poor sight and not the other symptoms that come with retinoblastoma. They said if I don't get the money for her operation, the tumor would grow and eventually make her lose her sight and eventually spread to her body where she would have been sicker...and would eventually die."

Tristan couldn't believe what he was hearing, "...So you're saying...that Serenity was not only going blind...she was on the verge of getting cancer to?"

"...Yes."

Before Joey knew it, Tristan punched him in the face, Joey was in shock as Tristan glared at him, "You knew...and you didn't say anything to us!" Tristan growled, "and you knew...and you didn't want to show up for Serenity's surgery...especially when you knew she had a disease that was not only making her go blind, but it would have eventually killed her! Joey you are an idiot!"

Joey looked down, "I know, I was being selfish...but I did tell Yugi though."

Tristan was wide-eyed, "Yugi knew!? But why didn't you tell me, Tea or Ryou back at duelist kingdom when the doctor told you of Serenity's disease!?"

Joey snapped his head up and glared, "Because Yugi's grandpa was practically dying himself!"

Tristan was silent from Joey's outburst. Joey frowned again, "...I know I should have told you guys...but Yugi's grandpa's soul was still held captive, telling you guys that my sister had eye cancer would add more pressure to you all and I didn't want Yugi to feel guilty when he almost lost a loved one. I told Yugi because he overheard me getting upset and he deserved to know the truth...and don't get upset with him for not telling you...I told him to keep quiet about it."

Tristan blinked as Joey told him the new information, "...You didn't tell us because you didn't want us to worry? But Joey Serenity was going blind and would have eventually died from her disease! you could have told us!"

"Like I said, Grandpa needed our help the most, and I still had time before Serenity went blind and before the tumor could spread...I'm really sorry Tristan..."

Tristan frowned, "...Joey..."

Joey looked down, "I really am a screw up...I lied to you guys, made Yugi keep a secret you guys could have known a long time ago...and I was willing to not show up for my sister's surgery and she would have went blind and have full blow cancer because of me...maybe ma, pops and Kaiba were right about me...I am a useless mutt."

Tristan grabbed Joey's shirt, "Joey Wheeler don't you dare call yourself that ever again! You hear me!?"

Joey blinked, "Huh?"

Tristan continued, "You are not a mutt! Joey you had to deal with an alcoholic father who made you sleep on the streets everyday and you had to fight in order to survive! You may have done some things you've regretted but you didn't have a choice! And you have proven your parents wrong, you are already in high school and plan to graduate unlike your mom did and you plan to go to college where your dad also failed to graduate from. And you got the money to pay for your sisters operation, and you not only saved her sight...you saved her life! Joey you have done amazing things that you should be proud of and I won't let you say bad things about yourself got it!?"

Joey was stunned by his best friends words, then tears started to form in his eyes, "...Tristan..."

"So cheer up man," Tristan smiled, "You saved your sister, you're a true hero Joey."

Joey had tears down his cheeks, then he grinned big, "You're right man, I did it."

The two boys hugged each other and Tristan spoke again, "You should call Yugi and let him know everything's okay."

Joey smiled, "I will...and Tristan, can you do something for me?"

Tristan blinked, "What's that?"

"...When Serenity wakes up...don't tell her ma was kicked out or what happened between us...I don't want her to get upset, she just got her operation and this will stress her out. Tell her ma had to go back home to work, okay?"

While Tristan didn't like lying, he knew that Joey was right and that had to be done. Mrs. Wheeler being kicked out for hitting Joey would only upset Serenity and will cause more problems to their already broken family.

Tristan nodded, "You got it man, I won;t tell her anything."

Then Joey went to the nearest payphone and called Yugi, the phone rang until Yugi picked up.

 _"Hello?"_ Yugi asked on the other line.

"Hey Yug, the operation was a success!"

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 _ **FIN.**_


End file.
